Ring of life: Awakening
by Dragonwrighter
Summary: Collage student Aires just wanted to play her game, not be part of it. Now she finds herself trapped in the world of FF9. What role does she play? And what is this power she finds awakening inside her?
1. NO IDEA

Disclaimer: I do not own FF9. That belongs to Square Enix and the rest of those lucky peeps. Also, as a side note, its illegal to download a game you don't actually own. Im just say'n...Anywho, here we go...

Chapter One: NO IDEA

I can seriously say, without any doubt in my mind, that I have NO IDEA whats going on.

My day had started out normally enough. I had just got back from my collage math class ( which by the way was horrible. Damn you algebra!) and had made it back to my one room apartment not 15 minutes previous. I'd flopped down on my bed, my laptop not a few feet away and my game controller in my hands. In collage, I had found it SO much easier to put all my games as roms on my computer. Much less likely they'd get taken off with like my Legend of Dragoon and my Parasite Eve had already. Still don't know for the life of me WHY someone wanted them, but whatever.

After mulling over what it was that I had wanted to play, I finally decided on Final Fantasy 9. Good story, good characters, and I hadn't played it in about 3 years, so hey, seemed like a good time to start a new file. Going into my game screen and loading up my PSX, I inserted my FF9 iso, and waited for it to boot up.

…..

Nothing.

Just a blank screen.

I'd cursed, and tried to reset it, but my whole computer had froze. Cursing even more, I whacked the top corner of my computer, and went to force a shutdown, when the whole screen went white. I panicked, thinking 'OMG, I think I just broke my computer!' and suddenly Final Fantasy 9 started to play. Confused, I sat back, thinking that maybe it had fixed itself, when the lights in the house started turning on and off, then went out completely.

I was getting a little nervous, thinking maybe there were spooks in my apartment or something ( to much watching ghost hunters and paranormal state) and my computer screen was getting bright to the point where I had to cover my eyes. A sudden feeling of vertigo came over me, and I clamped my eyes shut to avoid nausea. Then it felt as though I was falling (off my bed?) and I opened my eyes to see what was going on.

I immediately regretted it.

I was heading quickly towards the ground. A paved road. A paved road with people on it. And I was about to fall on one of them.

I have NO IDEA whats going on.

~oOo~

A little boy walked down the street, clutching his ticket to his chest tightly. Alexandria was so big! Much bigger than his grandpa had described to him. And there were so many people! He adjusted a hat, a habit he had when he was nervous. Now if only he could find that ticket booth...

"HEY! LOOK OUT!"

Vivi blinked in confusion, wondering where the voice had come from. Not the left, not the right, he looked up, and his yellow orbs widened.

BAM!

Vivi and the person on top of him groaned. That had really hurt! The person shifted, moving off of him, and he pushed himself up as well.

"Hey, are you all r-" The person, a girl in her late teens, early twenties, with shoulder length white blonde hair and green eyes started to say, but froze. Not like just stopping her sentence froze, but full bodied, wide eyed spooked froze.

"Miss, are...are you alright?" Vivi asked tentatively, getting more and more nervous as she just stared at him. "Miss?"

She blinked seeming to come out of her daze, and cautiously looked around her.

"I really need to lay off those late night taco runs. They got me hallucinating again." She mumbled wide eyed.

Vivi had NO IDEA what she was talking about.

~oOo~

"Miss?"

I looked over to the one that I knew had to be Vivi, but, well, that can't be right. Vivi was a character in a game. And I was...well, I wasn't. So none of this made any sense. I mean, sure, i've had dreams where final fantasy character would randomly make a guest appearance, like a dream world easter egg, but all this seemed so real..like my scraped elbow, and the throbbing in my side where I landed on him, and him talking to me...wait.

"Uh... yeah, sorry um...kid." I said, standing up and brushing off the dirt on my knee length tan cargo shorts. Actually, now that I see it, I'm still wearing what I had on a moment ago. That's weird. Normally I have on crazy stuff in my dreams. But nope, just my shorts, my gray and blue vans, my black t-shirt with a gray elbow length shirt over it and my black fingerless gloves. How boring.

Vivi stood up as well, brushing off his blue coat, then looked up at me.

"I..It's all right." He said, then his eyes widened, and he started patting himself. "Oh no! Wh-where is it?"

"Where's what?' I asked.

"My ticket! It's gone!" He exclaimed, and started to sniffle.

_Oh man. It's even a fake too._ I thought to myself, but hearing the little guy cry, even if this was a taco induced dream, still made me feel bad.

I started looking around our feet, and sure enough, laying on the ground a little ways away was the ticket. I reached down, grasping it in my hands, and held it out to the little guy.

"Here kid, don't cry. Is this it?"

His sniffles stopped and, well, I think he smiled. Not really sure what's going on under that hat of his.

"Th-thank you miss!"

I nodded.

"No problem" I said. "And enough with the 'miss' thing. My grandma says that. Names Aires"

_Well, not really, more of a nickname actually._

"V-Vivi" He replied.

"Okay Vivi. Why don't we go get your ticket to the check-in counter?"

He nodded enthusiastically, and started walking towards the town square where the ticket counter was. I hung back a few steps behind him, absorbing my surroundings. It was mostly like how I remembered it from the game, banners strung up all over the place, weird looking people wandering around (that guy was a hippo!) and looking up I could see airships. AIRSHIPS. Wow was this ever the most detailed dream that I've ever had. So absorbed was I in looking around that it downright startled me when suddenly I heard,

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

_Oh, he must have just been told his ticket was a fake. Poor kid._

I walked up to Vivi, putting a hand on his shoulder. Looking at the ticket master, who looked like some weird...dog...hybrid...thing, I asked,

"Sir, isn't there anything you can do for him?"

The ticket master shook his head, looking down sadly at the sniffling Vivi.

"No, I'm sorry. We've been getting a lot of these fakes today to." He replied, then reached into his pocket, handing Vivi what I recognized to be Tetra Master cards. "Here kid. Maybe these will make you feel better"

_Wow those are some lame cards. Goblin, Fang, and Skeleton? Kids prolly find better cards in their breakfast cereal._

"Thanks" I heard Vivi say dejectedly. Didn't take a genius to know it didn't make him feel better.

"Come on Vivi" I said, looking down at the little black mage, taking his hand. "We'll go figure something else out."

_Like roof hopping!_

"We...we will?" He asked, seeming to be pretty confused as to why I was helping him when I'd just met him.

"Of course!" I replied.

With Vivi in hand, we walked down the alleyway that I figured would be the one we'd meet up with Puck in. When I saw the guy on the ladder hammering away at a sign, I knew I was right. With a smile on my face, we went down the alley, carefully avoiding bumping into the ladder. We just waved, and with a confused expression, he slowly waved back, shook his head, and continued hammering.

"Did you know him Aires?" Vivi asked me quietly.

"Naw." I replied. "Just felt like it"

"Oh. Alrighty then"

It was near the end of the alleyway that I spotted Puck. He was standing there, looking much like the little street waif he was pretending to be. Hard to believe he was really a prince. Spotting us, he waved over to Vivi, who seemed to be happy to see a familiar face.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" He said to Vivi, not even seeming to notice me.

"Well..my ticket.." Vivi began, but the rat kid cut him off with a devious smile.

"So you got yourself a fake, huh? Tough break there. Looki'n for a way in?"

Vivi nodded, eyes wide.

"Well.." Puck began, looking from Vivi and noticing me. "If you two want to get in, you gotta be my slaves!"

_Hell to the no i'm gonna be his slave. _I growled internally.

"O..okay" Vivi agreed, a little to readily in my opinion. I knew how to get up there, and I didn't think id be able to put up with someone bossing me around in my own dream.

"Great!" The rat kid exclaimed. "Follow me!"

"Oi, I don't remember agreeing to this!" I growled out, eyes narrowed.

All the kid did was turn around, stick his tongue out at me, and say "To bad!" Before taking off down the street.

I could actually FEEL my eyebrow twitch.

Vivi looked up at me, his eyes wide and questioning. He really did look like a little kid like that.

"Aren't we gonna go?" He asked in a small voice.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes with my free hand, wondering when I was going to wake up. Mr. Ruther was going to go homicidal on my ass if I didn't turn in my essay tomorrow on 'The Tale of Two Cities'. I swear, seems like the older a teacher gets, the more generally angry they become.

"Yeah, let's go."

~oOo~

"So if we climb up this ladder, we can get there, right?"

Puck nodded, and I glanced up the, in my opinion, death trap.

_Wonder where the moogle is?_

"-an go first" Puck finished saying to Vivi.

_Crap! Missed it!_

"What?"

"I said." Puck started, looking at me "That you can go first!"

I blinked. But If I did that, a moogle's gonna land on me!

_But it should be okay right? It's just a dream, or tacos...but either way, it shouldn't hurt, right? But, the whole falling thing hurt...maybe I fell outta bed and it was incorporated into my dream? Yeah, that must be it! So, everything's gonna be just fine!_

With that thought in my head, I grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing my way up, totally confident that everything would work out.

"Kupo.."

?

"Kupoooooooooooooo!"

I looked up and OH MY GOD!

BAM!

I felt the ground underneath me again, and a solid pain in my tailbone where I had landed.

_Owwwwwww...wait, ow?_

"You alright kupo?"

"Aires! You okay?"

I looked up at the moogle, then over at a concerned Vivi and an indifferent Puck. I must have had a strange look on my face to as Vivi seemed to be getting even more worried.

"Uh, yeah" I replied. "Just, was pretty startled is all."

Vivi, though hesitantly, seemed to accept this answer, and the moogle jumped off of me, winding me some. I groaned, standing up and rubbing my sore tailbone. This was turning out to be a lot weirder than I first imagined. What if everything is seeming so real because...?

"Well, now that everythin's outta there, guess i'll be heading up then" Puck suddenly declared, grasping the ladder and effortlessly climbing up to the top. "Follow me slaves!"

"Why that little-"

I felt a tugging at my shirt, and looked down to see Vivi looking at me expectantly. Sighing, I scratched the back of my head more on reflex then anything.

"Well, lets go I guess. Hopefully no more moogles attack us on the way up." I said, walking over to the ladder. "Why don't you go up first Vivi? Ill be right behind you in case you slip."

He nodded nervously, then grasped the ladder, making a slow climb up, me following right behind. I really didn't like this ladder either, with every step the thing felt like it was about to break on you. Vivi must have felt like this as well, I could hear him whimpering every few steps when the wood would creak ominously.

When we reached the top, I saw Puck waiting there impatiently, his foot tapping an the roof and his arms folded over his chest. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he just snickered at me. Unfolding his arms, he pointed out over the houses.

"This way slaves!"

He quickly made his way over a series of wooden planks stretched out over the rooftops as if they were nothing. Stopping at the fourth roof, he turned around, waving us over.

I looked at Vivi, Vivi looked at me. We both looked at the wooden planks. Both of us had the same thing in mind.

_We are SO not gonna make it over!_

Puck had NO IDEA what their problem was.

~oOo~

I was panting, gripping onto my knees and trying to stop my racing heart. Almost every plank I went across broke in the midst of me crossing it, causing me to do a run/jump in order for me to make it to the other side. It was a good thing that Vivi was in front of me whilst we were doing this to, otherwise I hadn't a clue as to how he would have made it.

"You...little bastard. Those things...have like what...a 30 pound weight limit?" I said while catching my breath.

Puck shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't know. Never brought someone across as fat as you before"

I think I saw red...yep. There was definitively red lining my vision.

"You...you...! I'm 112 pounds of AWESOME over here! That is FAR from FAT!" I exclaimed. I could feel my hands twitching. No, better not strangulate the prince of Burmecia...

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

On second thought...

"Mister Puck? How much farther?" I suddenly heard Vivi ask.

Puck looked over, then pointed to a building next to us.

"Once we cross this building, there's a gap in the wall that'll let us slip in unnoticed by the guards. After that, you guys are on your own." He stated to the black mage, then started down the building and disappeared into a hole I hadn't even noticed before.

I sighed.

"Well, I guess here we go Vivi."

I grabbed his hand again, helping him balance over the last stretch and we approached the hole. Vivi crawled in first, but I eyes it wearily. I may be kinda small, but this was gonna be a tight fit. I put my head in first, and shimmied my was through, feeling someone on the other side grasp onto my hands and help pull me the rest of the way though.

"Thanks Vivi" I said, setting my feet down on the ground and looking around me.

The room was crowded with people, very exited people. On further inspection I could see Zidane and Blank playing out their fighting scene in the middle walkway. It was weird to watch. Even in a fake fight, they seemed pretty skilled, but at the same time, it was unnerving. The clang of their swords was ringing in my ears, the cheers of the audience, and Vivi gripping my hand tightly so as to not get lost in the crowd.

"Are...are you okay? You look...worried." I heard Vivi ask over the roar.

"Wha? No, it's cool Vivi, im fine. Just thinking. Let's just enjoy the play, shall we?" I replied.

He nodded, and we turned our attention to the play.

I had NO IDEA how this was gonna turn out.

And so you have it. The end of chapter 1. Read and review for me, will ya? It gets me to write more XD


	2. It's a BOMB!

Chapter 2: It's a BOMB!

The play really was going splendidly. (You know, if you're into that kind of thing.) Zidane and Blank had poofed a while ago, probably to try and take off with the princess, and now the rest of the story was progressing, the part of the story that wasn't showed in the game. The two countries at war, Marcus and Cornilia sneaking out to see one another...a whole lot of boring crap in my opinion really. I can feel myself fall a little more asleep with each yawn I take. Vivi seemed really into it though, hadn't taken his eyes off it once this whole time.

_If im not already asleep, this will sure as hell put me there..._

"Uh oh"

"Uh oh? What's uh oh?" I asked Vivi, who was frantically pulling at my shirt.

He pointed over at at a guard, Haagen I think his name was, was heading our way. The fragger had spotted us.

"Awe crap Vivi! Come on!"

We ran towards the stage, away from the knight. Looking in the stage direction, I noticed that Dagger was already there, as was Zidane and Steiner. ( How did I miss that?) Dagger was laying on the ground, and Steiner was on his knees having a meltdown of some kind. Ah well, he'll quickly get over it. We jumped onto the stage, the knight right on our heels. Leaping over the prone body of the princess, Vivi turned, THOUGHT he aimed, and shouted, "FIRE!"

Sure, a ball of fire did spit out of the end of his staff, and sure, it went in the GENERAL direction of Haagen, but instead of burning the hair off the knight, it caught the end of Dagger's white mage robe, setting it in a small fire. She leaped up, hopping up and down, and call me an ass, but I found it to be HILARIOUS. Throwing off the robe, she quickly brushed the charred remains off of herself.

"Princess! You're ALIVE!" Steiner cried out in joy.

"How did you figure she was dead? Dude, there was like, no blood or anything." I said. I mean come on now. How thick could you get?

"YOU! You must be in cahoots with this thief! I will have you arrested for harming the princess!" He exclaimed, brandishing his sword. "Princess, you must come back with me!"

Suddenly another knight showed up, but wait, if I remember correctly...

"You needn't worry your highness!'

Oh yeah, that totally had to be Blank. I could see the smiles on Zidane, Cinna, and Marcus' faces too. They knew as well.

"Good work!" Steiner exclaimed. "This will be remembered as the Pluto knights finest hour!"

Blank came over to us, holding his sword up in a battle stance. At the same time, Zidane pulled out his daggers, Cinna his hammer, and Marcus his broadsword as well. I held onto Vivi's hand tightly, pulling him behind the guys along with me, Dagger following my lead.

"Just relax princess. We'll get you outta here!" Blank stated with a wide grin on his face.

Steiner looked totally affronted.

"WHAT? You're not one of my knights!"

Zidane took a step forward towards Steiner, Blank, Cinna and Marcus grouping next to him.

"You can just..." he began,

"...leave the princess..." continued Cinna, getting his hammer ready,

"...To us!" They all shouted as one.

"Villans! How dare you trick the princess!"

I stepped back, pulling Vivi with me and grasping onto Dagger as I went. We really didn't need to be so close to this. Good thing I thought that to.

Steiner, in a fit of...er...knightly rage swung his sword down at Zidane, who laughed and quickly back flipped out of the way. With his focus on Zidane, Cinna came up from behind, swinging his hammer and hitting the Pluto knight in the side.

"Why you..!"

He turned, swinging his sword at the odd looking man, who just barely dodged by holding up his hammer in time. Now with his back turned towards the others, both Marcus and Blank gave a solid kick to the back of the knight's armor. I could practically see the steam coming out of his helmet at this point he was so pissed off, and it wasn't getting any better for him either. One of the guys would distract, and the others would slap him around as if it were some kind of children's game. Dagger I could tell was getting worried, her eyes were wide with distress and one of her hands covered her mouth.

"Sh...should we help them?" I heard Vivi ask me.

"Uh..."

_How in the world would I help? Glare him into unconsciousness? I don't know how to use a weapon even if I had one!_

"I think they got it pretty covered." I said instead to the little black mage.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." He relied, just in time for me to hear Steiner shout "Armor Break!"

CLANG!

Blank's armor busted open, and out popped...bugs. Big ass bugs. Like, atomic holocaust, laugh in the face of raid bugs.

"N-NO! I hate oglops! I hate oglops!" Steiner exclaimed as they overran him.

And not just him either. They were heading for EVERYBODY. The ginormous ladybug things were everywhere, on everything! Blank was flailing, as one was in his hair, and OH MY GOD one's on me!

"Get it off! Get it off!"

Vivi was wide eyed, he didn't know what to do. Hopefully not try to burn the thing off. I grabbed it's hairy body ( ew ew EW) and threw it away from me and back at Steiner, who got hit on the head with it, sending him even more into a frenzy. With a deep shudder I looked around, noticing Zidane taking Dagger to another area of the stage/ship that we where on.

"Come on Vivi, this way!"

"O..okay!"

We ran the way I saw the two take off in, and came to a halt in the middle of the deck by the two. Zidane was giving us a 'So who the hell are you anyway?' kind of look, but we were all a little to busy to be asking each other such stupid questions at this time. Well, I thought so anyway. I already knew them! The sound of armor was coming up behind us, and I already knew before he even showed up that it was Steiner again.

"Release the princess at once!" He bellowed. Or tried to anyway. His voice was still shaky from the oglop episode. I shuddered. As a matter of fact, so was I.

"Steiner! Don't follow me anymore!" Dagger shouted over to him, clutching her hands to her chest.

The knight seemed taken aback by this, and seemed to struggle with himself for a moment.

"Hmmm...errr...uh... I'm sorry princess, but I cannot comply!"

He started coming more towards us again, but the stage/ship we were on gave a sudden lurch, knocking most of us to out feet. I felt Vivi grip onto me tightly, eyes wide.

"Everybody hang on! We're tak'n off!" Zidane shouted in generalization to everyone.

The ship we were on started rising higher, and higher, and pulling away from the castle when I saw it. The cannons. Dear god and christ they were about to fire on us.

"Watch out! Cannons!" I roared out.

"Cannons?" Zidane exclaimed, just as three 'BOOMS!' rand out.

I saw one of them heading for me and Vivi, and with reflexes I didn't even know I had ( and would probably hurt a little later after the adrenalin went down) I pushed us out of the way right as it drove into the ship behind me, so close that I felt the wind woosh up my shirt as it dug in.

"You guys okay?" Zidane called out to us.

"Y..Yeah, we're good." I shakily said back, then added with a bit more venom. "Would have been better if the fat lady hadn't just tried to shishkabob us though"

"How DARE you insult the queen! She was... just making sure you all couldn't run off with the princess!" Steiner roared, his back turned away from the castle.

"Dude are you slow? One of those things could have hit her too! Then what, huh?"

Steiner's face was turning an interesting shade of red. Almost as red as that bomb that was hovering behind him.

Wait.

There's a bomb.

Oh snap.

"Dude! Turn around! It's a BOMB!" I shouted to him, dramatically pointing my arms to the oh nos that was behind him. Seriously. Does he not notice how bright it is behind him? AND ITS GETTING BIGGER.

"I'll not fall for that trick!" He scoffed, raising his sword and preparing for battle once again.

"Look behind you!" Zidane added.

"Please Steiner! Behind you!"

He merely shrugged of the warning.

"Surrender at once!"

"There's a bomb!" Yelled Vivi, watching in horror as the bomb got bigger.

"Screw this! EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" I screamed as loud as I could, grabbing onto Vivi with one hand and clutching the harpoon inbeded into the deck with the other.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Zidane grab onto Dagger, doing about the same thing with her. Steiner had finally turned around to see what all the commotion was about, and dropped to the ground, mouth a gape as be realized we weren't just messing with him. The bomb seemed to smile, it's large, orb like body hovering above the deck a moment longer before it suddenly imploded inwards on itself, and from that a blast erupted from the place it just was. I felt intense heat wash over my body, I knew the ship was on fire. I could hear shouting coming from the ship, but we were free from the chains, the ship slowly gliding down into a descent towards it's next destination.

Evil Forest.

Which, although accurate, is kind of a stupid and unimaginative name really.

"Hang on everyone! We're gonna crash!" I could hear Baku shout out though what seemed to me speakers of some kind.

We hit the ground hard, and I heard multiple shouts. Was one mine?

And then the world went dark.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand done with that chappie. What you guys think? Read and Review to tell me. I'm always up for ideas :D


	3. Sleep Little Dragon

To my reviews.

Burningmind: I hope you keep reading it. That would be awesome. As for what you asked, well, time will tell, ne? :D I want to make my character a bit different, but not so off the wall that people will just go 'oh great, another super power fic' If you read on as the story progresses, I hope you'll see what I mean.

LONG LIVE TACOS!

Chapter 3: Sleep Little Dragon

"Hey! Hey Aires! Wake up! Mr. Ruther's gonna kick your ass if he catches you sleeping in his class again!"

I groaned, squinted my eyes open blearily, letting them adjust to my surroundings. My head was pounding ferociously, and it was making it difficult to collect my thoughts.

"Hey, you okay? You look kind of sick..."

Looking in the direction the voice had come from, I spotted one of my classmates, Ryan...er...something or another, staring at me curiously. My arms were crossed on my desk in a pillow fashion, and I began to wonder to myself.

_I guess it really was just a taco dream. Man, but it all seemed so real..._

"Naw dude, im fine. Just some bad food I ate yesterday. S' cool" I replied.

I went to scratch the back of my head, but drew it back quickly as a sharp pain assaulted me when I did so. Looking down at my hand, I immediately found out why.

"Holy crap! I'm bleeding! I got to go see the nurse or something!"

Ryan just stared at me with a look of confusion.

"You're not bleeding. Are you sure your okay? Why don't you just go back to sleep. I'll cover for you." He said calmly. Now it was my turn to look at him confused.

I held out my hand to him, the one covered in blood.

"How is this not bleeding? This is definitively enough to merit a trip to the doctor!"

I made to get up out of my seat, but a sudden hand on my shoulder stopped me from doing so. It was strong. Too strong. Especially from I lanky guy like him. That's when I started noticing the other people in the classroom. They were all stock still, unmoving, just starring vacantly in front of them. I started getting alarmed. Something was SERIOUSLY not right with this situation.

Ryan cocked his head to the side, eyes widening WAY to much, and even the angle of his head looked funny.

"Go to sleep Airesia. Sleep well, you don't have to wake up..."

Okay, now I KNOW somethings wrong. VERY few people knew my real name, and Ryan was DEFINITALLY not one of them. Once again, I tried moving away, but his grip was freakishly strong and the pounding in my head was only getting worse.

"Lemme go Ryan! There's something WRONG with you!"

I went to push him off, and his hand shot out, grabbing me by the wrist. Looking straight at him, I went to go tell him off again, when I noticed something more than just a little freaky.

His face was peeling off.

The skin under his eyes began to droop down, and his mouth started to widen into a far to large, clown-like smile. A smile with some seriously sharp teeth. Then I heard it. Movement from throughout the rest of the classroom. Glancing away from the Parasite Eve moment I had just experience, I watched wide eyed as the rest of the classroom turned towards me, their faces deforming in the same manner that Ryan's just had.

I could feel myself shaking. This was to entirely fucked up. They were drawing closer, slowly, sluggishly, like they weren't entirely sure how to move.

_I knew I shoulda read ' The idiot's guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse!'_

"Now go to sleep. It will all be over soon..."

I could feel the throbbing in my head. It was all making me so sleepy, so tired. But I couldn't go to sleep could I? Not in a room full of zombies anyway. It was hard though, I could feel my eyelids drooping, struggling to stay open. The...thing... next to mes smile widened. It could tell I was loosing. Whether from exhaustion or blood loss, it was anyone's guess.

_No..no..NO!_

My hands balled into fists. There was NO WAY I was just going to lie down and let...whatever this was happen. I didn't know exactly what that was particularity, but I knew one thing. It wasn't good. The thing holding onto me suddenly let out a shrill, inhuman hiss, and tore it's hands away from me quickly. They were smoking.

The hollow friendliness it was looking at me before vanished in an instant, and it glared at me with such rage and hate in it's eyes that it made me shiver at the unpleasantness of it all. I leaped back out of my seat away from it, and made a b-line for the classroom door. Grasping the handle, I made to turn it, but it wouldn't budge for me.

_It can't be locked! I'm INSIDE the classroom!_

There was chuckling behind me, low, raspy, _inhuman_ chuckling. I looked behind me. The...zombies... had amassed themselves in one large group, there bodies melding before me in a sickening hodgepodge of flesh and limbs.

"You cannot escape, now that I have found you." It spoke, the voice coming from all the many mouths crisscrossing it's frame. "You'll die here and now little dragon, before you ever have a chance to become a threat to me..."

The thing...oozed toward me, a dozen arms reaching out, grabbing me around the throat. I choked, my vision going blurry. Painful hissing reached my ears, and all I could think about before my world went black was,

_What did it mean by 'little dragon?'_

~oOo~

"-ink alright? Did the potion work?"

"The bleeding stopped..."

"..awful lotta flailing..."

The voices around me were starting to get on my nerves. Didn't they realize how bad of a headache I had at the moment? I groaned, pushing my body more in on itself and and holding my hands to my head in an attempt to just make them GO AWAY. I felt a hand at my shoulder, and immediately tensed. Oh god, I was still in that Resident Evil wannabe place, was I?

"You okay now? You took quite a fall when we crashed here. You're lucky you didn't end up underneath the ship!"

_The ship?_

Uncurling myself, I pushed my body up so that I was sitting on my knees, and with my eyes open and a clear view of my surroundings, I took in what was around my. Moss and other vegetation was beneath me, pleasantly soft really. We were in some kind of woods, the trees thick, and greyish blue in color. Vines wrapped around them and anything else they seemed to come into contact with tightly, and looking up, the canopy of the forest almost completely blocked out the sun. Mist weaved itself between the trees like spooks, like a living thing. Maybe it was.

To my left, The fires from the ship still burned, a flickering of orange in this dark place. I could hear people calling out from inside, orders to put out the fires and make sure everyone was accounted for.

"Are you okay?"

For the first time I looked at my, well, rescuers I guess they were. Cinna and Blank were looking at me, well, I assumed Blank was, his head was pointed in this direction, expectant looks on their faces. Prolly thought I had brain damage or something. My head did hurt enough, even if the pain was ebbing away.

_Am I okay? This is getting FAR to real for me. And right when I think things are getting back to normal, It gets even more freaky then whats going on now. Just what's going on?_

"No, not really." I mumble truthfully.

Cinna and Blank frowned, and Blank offered his hand out to me. I accepted it, letting him help pull me up and onto my own two feet.

"Hey we never did catch your name" Blank said as we all walked back towards the ship. "I'm Blank!"

"Cinna."

I nodded in acknowledgment. I already knew their names, but they didn't need to know that.

"My name's Aires."

They in turn nodded. When we reached the entrance to the ship, Cinna stopped, and waved for us to continue.

"I'm just gonna go...look for something. You guys keep going." He said, and started looking around outside.

_That's right. His doll. Hehe, wonder what Dagger would think if she knew?_

"Alright bro. I'm just gonna take Aires here to help me clean up." He replied with a shrug.

_Crap. I gotta clean? Lame._

We walked a little further into the ship, when we spotted Zidane on his was out.

"Hey Zidane! Where you headed?" Blank asked, stopping him as he passed. "And what was up with you just jumping off the ship like that?"

"I didn't jump off! I was thrown off on impact!" He countered, crossing his arms. "And as for where, im heading out to the forest. I can't find the princess anywhere."

"The princess? Oh no, Vivi!" I suddenly shouted. How could I forget? "Did you see Vivi? Maybe he's with the princess!"

"The little guy that was with you?" Zidane asked curiously.

I nodded.

"Yeah, that's him! Look, we gotta help him. He could get into a lot of trouble if he's left out there by himself!"

Zidane seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded, grinning widely.

"Alright, come with then! Two heads are better then one right? We'll find him in no time!"

I felt myself get wide- eyed ay that.

"But...er...i don't have anything to fight with so..."

_Or even know how to fight for that matter._

"That's okay. I'm sure Cinna can find something around here for you to use. I'll meet up with you in a bit, okay? Need to grab some potions." He said, then held out his hand. "Names Zidane by the way."

"Er... Aires"

His grin grew.

"Alright Aires, see ya in a bit!"

I just stood there for a bit, and I must have looked weird because next I knew, Blank was shaking my arm in an attempt to pull me out of my stupor.

"Yeah...so...guess ill go find Cinna then..." I mumbled to myself, heading back to the outside where I knew Cinna was still looking for his Garnet doll.

"Be careful out there, this place isn't called Evil Forest because of it's scenic waterfalls and friendly neighborhood." I heard Blank call to me as I left.

I waved to him, not turning around, wondering just what I was going to do.

~oOo~

"Hey Cinna!" I called out to the odd looking man who was rummaging though a series of boxes. He didn't even acknowledge me. "CINNA!"

"It's gotta be around here somewhere...poor thing...what it it got caught in the fire..?" He mumbled to himself, still not hearing me.

"OI! Cinna, hey...um...I FOUND IT!" I called out to him.

Almost comically his head popped out of a box, and he rushed towards me.

"You found it?" He said excitedly, then as an after thought said "Hey, wait. Who told you about...?"

_Awe great. Way to go dumbass._

"Um, I uh, heard some of the guys talking about it in the ship. About a doll?" I said uncertainly, hoping he would buy it.

He did.

Grasping my shoulders, he started shaking me in his excitement. It was starting to make me nauseous, and I must have been turning green because he started to look sheepish and let me go.

"Oh, uh, sorry 'bout that. But, my doll?"

"Yeah, um, before that though, Zidane asked me to ask you if maybe you had something around here to, you know, keep me from getting mauled by wild beasties and the like. I gotta go find my friend Vivi before something of the like get him." I quickly answered back.

"Oh, Zidane asked? Well if you found my doll, I guess I can get you something that should work for you." He said, and started rummaging though a box to our left. "Are they even still in here..? Been a while..." he mumbled. "Ah Ha! Here we are!"

He held out to me what looked like two plain iron rings with a cross hold in the middle wrapped in thin leather. They were dented in places, and looked rather heavily used.

"Here. These used to belong to Mara, but, well, she's not using them anymore, and now they're really just taking up room."

I grabbed the rings, looking them over more. They were actually pretty light weight, and twirling them around on my finger. They seemed like they'd at least help me a bit if I, I dunno, beat them with it or something.

"Here, you might want this stuff too" Cinna added, and I almost didn't hear him as I was actually starting to have quite a bit of fun just messing with the rings. Flinging them in the air a bit, twirling them, quickly spinning them and catching them suddenly. This seemed pretty easy actually.

Cinna handed me a pair of black gloves with plating going up the wrists, a strap which I assumed was for the rings, and what looked to be a bag of some kind. It was black, and looked to be made out of some kind of leather.

"Here, these were Mara's too." He said watching me replace my gloves with the ones he had given me, and attaching the strap to my waist, clicking the rings in place and attaching the bag to the strap as well so it rested on my front right, while the rings hung at my sides. "You're pretty good with those rings you know. Maybe it was a good thing we kept Mara's stuff after all."

_Who is Mara anyway? I don't remember any Mara in the game._

"So, who's Mara?" I asked causally, making sure everything was in place. I heard Cinna give a deep sigh, frowning.

"Mara is...was...Ruby's older sister. She was with us here up until a few years ago, when the Mist Sickness swept through Lindblum, taking Mara with it." He answered sadly.

_Mist Sickness?_

"Oh." Was all I could reply with. "Sorry"

_I guess that's why you never saw her in the game..._

"Yeah well, like I said, it was a few years ago. We're all getting over it now, so it's okay" He stated, scratching the back of his head.

"Are...you sure I can take these? I can give them right back if you want."

He shook his head.

"No, it's okay. Mara would be happy to know her stuff wasn't going to waste." He said with a smile. "Now, about my...?"

I blinked. Oh yeah! I had almost forgot.

"Oh right! Well, I heard some guys talking about how they saw a doll in the music room. Does that help any?"

His eyes got wide, and he grinned broadly.

_Dude needs to see a dentist._

"The music room? Right! I never did look there yet! Thanks!" He exclaimed, and faster then a guy with his structure should be able to move, he took off into the ship, leaving me there to wonder how he was able to take off so fast.

_Well, guess I go find Zidane now, and prolly Steiner too if memory serves correct. With them, I should be able to find Vivi and Dagger! Just, hopefully I don't manage to get myself killed in the process. It would be SUPER LAME on my part if I got taken out this early in the game. Or...whatever this is now. _

And there you have it. Chapter 3! Read and review for me, ne?

Now, to go back to eating my tacos...


	4. Run Evil Forest, RUN!

To the one who invented spell check: I love you

Two chapters in a day! BOO-YAH. I think I'm on a roll!

Chapter 4: Run Evil Forest, RUN!

Zidane was waiting for me just where I thought he would, and, just like the game, a decidedly disgruntled Steiner was with him as well. Zidane looked curiously at the rings strapped to my sides, and looked like he was about to say something, but Steiner cut him off before he could.

"We're wasting time standing here! Let's be off before something happens to the princess!"

I scowled.

"Hey, Vivi's missing to rust bucket! He's just a kid! Don't you care about that at all?"

A guilty look spread across his face, but then growled at me for what I had called him.

"Aires' got you there Rusty. You wouldn't want to leave a kid out here alone, would you?"

"Grr...I am not RUSTY! I am Adlebert Steiner! Captain of the Knights of Pluto! And YOU criminals will take me to the princess immediately, then take us back to Alexandria where ill have you arrested for kidnapping the princess!"

Zidane just picked at his ear a moment, as if trying to regain his hearing back. I, on the other hand, was rather pissed.

"OI! I am NOT a criminal! You're stupid knights chased me and Vivi onto the ship, and it just took us along for the ride! We have NOTHING to even do with this!"

"Then why were my knights chasing you?"

"I don't know! Boredom maybe? A lack of common sense? How should I know?"

"YOU DARE-"

"Guys, guys, I hate to break up the love fest going on here, but we got some people to find." Zidane cut in, pushing us apart as we had been stomping closer and closer to each other in our anger.

"Yeah, your right. Let's go before rusty here oxidizes so bad he can't move anymore" I said with a huff, arms crossed over my chest.

"Yes, lets. We must find the princess-"

"-and Vivi" I cut in.

"-and Vivi at all cost."

Zidane grinned, patting us both on the back.

"There we go, see? Let's just aaaalll get along."

I groaned, rubbing my eyes. I don't think I can mentally handle all of this.

~oOo~

The pathway that we were following was a good 20~25 feet wide, with Zidane up front, me in the middle, and Steiner holding up the rear. Looking around, it was a downright spooky place too. The trees were arching over themselves, giving us the nearly tunnel like passage we were walking though, and I kept hearing these ominous clicking noises. Bugs maybe? The occasional growl would escape from between the trees to, and by looking behind me to see what Steiner was doing, by the way he was continuously glancing around, I'm pretty sure he heard them too.

Wait, as that eyes I just saw?

Zidane held out his arm to motion for us to stop, and on reflex, we did.

"Shh...somethings com-" He started to say, but was cut off when a wolf-like beast jumped out from between the trees, landing on him and knocking him to the ground.

_Oh balls, a Fang!_

I didn't have much time to dwell on this fact either, for almost as soon as I finished that thought several more growls erupted from the trees, before four more of the beasts lept out of the foliage, slowly passing towards me and Steiner, hackles raised, lips pulled back more than far enough for me to see that I DID NOT want to get bit by those.

Hearing a lupine yelp to my side, I glanced over to see that Zidane had pushed one of his dagger's deep into the Fang's side, before quickly pulling it out and kicking the beast off him. Apparently this was the distraction the other Fang's were looking for, for with my focus diverted, two of the Fangs made a quick charge towards me, the other two heading for Steiner. The Fang in front leapt towards me, and I barely had enough time to lift one of my rings in a shield stance before it was on me, snapping at my neck and barely missing due to the awkward angle of my ring. Without even thinking about it, I pushed back hard, bringing the ring across. It gave a strangled yelp, and fell to the side in a growing pool of it's own blood.

I had cut it straight across the neck.

Wide-eyes at what I had just done, I barely realized that the second Fang was now charging at me. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I brought up both rings in front of me, waiting for the Fang to get closer, and closer it did. It made a snap at my legs, and on instinct I brought both rings down, burying them into its back. It howled, trying to get free, but I kicked it in the face, and it dropped to the ground unmoving.

I was panting, and alarmed. Never, never had I done anything like that before. Was this what this whole...thing...was going to be like? Looking around, I could see that Steiner and Zidane had already finished up with their fights, and were wiping the blood off their blades. Zidane, feeling the eyes, looked at me curiously, then pointed to my blades.

"You're going to need to clean those off. Blood is horrible for blades."

"Uh, yeah." I mumbled back, wiping off my rings on the moss below.

"We cannot stall here to long, the princess needs help!" Steiner declared, snapping me out of the daze I was falling under.

_Pull yourself together Aires! If you're already freakin out now, you might as well hide in a corner and just hope everything goes away!_

With a nod from me and Zidane, we continued our trek down the path, on extra watch for more beasts now. It was about 10 minutes later when we heard two screams coming from a short distance away.

"VIVI!"

"PRINCESS!"

The three of us took off running in the direction on the screams, and quickly came across Vivi shaking on the ground and Dagger trapped in the confines of the monster I knew to be called Prison Cage. I got on the ground next to Vivi, grasping him and pulling him behind us.

Suddenly Zidane started to glow with an off-pink light, and seemed...decidedly furrier then he was just a moment ago.

"Wha?" he murmured, looking at himself.

"Is this...Trance?" Gaped Steiner.

"Guys, don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!" I exclaimed, snapping them out of the shock they were in.

That seemed to snap them out of their stupor, as both guys raised their blades in preparation to fight. Steiner ran in first, holding his sword aloft and taking a swing at one of the tentacles the plant-like monster sported. It dug into the vine, spraying a green, translucent liquid from the cut it had sustained. Prison cage roared, and brought up two of it's tentacles to wrap around Dagger. She screamed, and when the monster let go, she was slumped down further in the organic prison.

"Zidane, you have to hit it good and hard! If you don't, it'll just continue to drain her energy!"

He nodded, bringing his daggers to crisscross over his chest. A intense glow surrounded him, and balls of energy formed.

"Free Energy!" He exclaimed, and the balls of light shot out at the monster, hitting it in the chest (?). It shrieked, grasping at the treetops then pulled itself up, disappearing into the canopy.

"NO! PRINCESS!" Steiner shouted up at the treetops, a full blown panic look on his face.

Zidiane's glow faded, and he to looked worried, though not as much as the knight.

_Damn, there goes Dagger._

"She...She's gonna get eaten, isn't she?" I heard Vivi say. "I-I couldn't do anything..."

I frowned, shaking my head.

"No..she should still be okay.." I said to the little black mage.

"Yeah, Aires is right. That was just a minion. Probably taking her to it's master by this point." Zidane put in. "Aires, did you see where it went?"

I let go of Vivi, taking a few steps forward and glancing into the canopy above. Which direction did I see that overgrown weed take off in? To the left? Or.. wait! There was movement from above, and it was heading right towards...

"VIVI! LOOK OUT!"

To late. The prison Cage came crashing down, engulfing the little mage in it's branches. Growling, I grabbed my rings, ready to attack it.

_Goddamn it! I forgot about the second one!_

"HELP ME!" He cried out. I could tell he was terrified, shaking so hard within the confines of the large plant.

The other two, noticing Vivi's plight, turned their attention to the second Prison Cage, and began trying to hack at it much like they had the first one. One of the vines swung in my direction, and I took a swing at it, but barely made a cut in it. Instead, the vine backtracked, hitting me full in the stomach and sending me flying several feet before coming to a harsh landing on the forest floor.

"Ow! That dirty sonofa- Don't MAKE me break out the weedwhacker!" I growled out, my eyes widening as it retaliated by bringing a vine down.

I rolled to the side, narrowly missing being whipped harshly by the thing. Scrambling back onto my feet, I saw Zidane and Steiner having much the same issue, though Zidane was having a much easier time dodging around the attacks of the monster, while Steiner's armor, while slowing him down, protected him much more from the blows. What did I have? A bra and a half a year of gymnastics. Awesome.

_How did I get though this battle again? Oh wait, that's right! Vivi knows fire!_

"Vivi! Light it on fire! Crispy that bastard! I want STIR FRY for dinner!"

From within the cage, Vivi looked over at me nervously.

"B..But I-!"

I dodged another vine heading towards my head, countering it with a slice from my rings.

"You can do it Vivi! Fire's it weak spot!" I shouted over to him.

Another vine came up behind me, but ripped apart before it ever landed. I looked over to see what had caused it to not hit me, and was more than just a little surprised to see that it was Steiner who had stopped the blow from landing. He gave me a quick nod, then directed his attention back to the monster before him.

_Wow, maybe he's not as much of a dick as I first thought...naw. He's still a dick._

"FIRE!"

I looked up in time to see the monster flailing, scorch marks on the top of his head where Vivi sat.

"That's it Vivi! Keep go-" I paused, the monster had wrapped it's vines around Vivi, and much like Dagger, was draining his energy away. The scorch marks were fading like they had never even been there.

"SHIT! Vivi! You okay?" I exclaimed, then turned to the monster with an angry scowl on my face. "Can't you just stay on FIRE?"

I could practically envision the beast going up into flames, the orange glow spreading across it as it burnt everything it hit.

A fiery ball, seemingly out of fragging NOWHERE flew itself at the monster, hitting it square in the face. It howled in agony, it's vines grabbing it's blacked face.

"FIRE!"

More flames erupted from the top, and with one last screech, the monster collapsed, opening it's cage and allowing Vivi to slowly climb out. The three of us ran up to him, helping him stand and making sure he was alright.

"Vivi! That was freakin' AWESOME! How did you make that fireball blast him in the face like that?" I said excitedly to him.

"W..what? I didn't do that. You're the one who cast it, not me." He replied, looking at me with exhausted yellow eyes.

I blinked.

"Wait. What?"

I didn't have much time to dwell on the thought of what Vivi just said, as suddenly a cloud of green burst forth from the monster. I saw Zidane jump back, but me, Vivi, and Steiner found ourselves caught up in it. Coughing, I fell to my knees, and a wave of nausea passed over me.

_I...am never eating vegetables again._

And my world blacked out once more.

~oOo~

Coming to from being forced unconsciousness was really beginning to piss me off. You wake up with a headache, which in turn puts you in a crappy mood, and everything gets on your nerves. Like this bed for instance. It's got a bad spring, and I think it's trying to work it's way up my butt, and I don't know about you, but id rather not be molested my my furniture, thank you very much.

"Hey, you feelin' better now?" I heard Zidane say a short distance from me.

I groaned.

_Shoo monkey boy._

I opened my eyes, and dragged myself up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Besides the bed trying to anally rape me in my sleep. Yeah, I think all's good." I said with a scowl which he just laughed at.

"Well you sound a whole lot better to me!" He joked, handing me a vial of clear yellow-brown liquid. " Some plants in this forest reproduce by planting seeds into it's victims, and when whey hatch ...Sheeek! You're nothing but plant food."

"Awesome. I always wanted to be a human bonsai tree. All the sun, water, and preening ill ever need!" I said, then gave an exasperated sigh. "So, I take it this'll make me feel better?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, Blank gave it to me. It'll remove all the seeds from your body. Got a couple more for the kid and Rusty to, and the princess when we find her."

"Alright" I replied, holding the vial to my lips, and in a quick gulp downing it in one shot.

_Tastes kinda like...Jack Daniel's really. No wonder Steiner liked it and Vivi thought it was nasty. If I was his age, I wouldn't like it at all either. Speaking of Vivi..._

"Hey, where are they anyway?" I asked, handing him back the empty vial

"Vivi's over there." He answered, pointing to another bed I hadn't noticed before across the room. "And Rusty's holed up in the music room, havin' a bit of a freak out. I'm about to go drop this off to him though, and then I gotta go see the boss about...stuff... I'll be back in a bit to check up on you guys though. We still have a princess to save, right?"

I nodded, and he handed me another corked vial.

"Here, give this to the kid when he wakes up, alright? You shouldn't have to wait to much longer."

With that said, he waved me off, exiting the room and leaving me to my own thoughts. Like for instance, what did Vivi mean when he said that I had cast the fire magic?

_I can't know any magic! I'm not even from here! And even if that wasn't the case, I certainly never learned any. What set it off? Was it because I said fire?_

Curious, I pointed over to a shelf in front of me.

"Fire!"

…...

Nothing. The shelf just sat there, mocking me with its...unburnedness...

_Maybe I didn't say it loud enough?_

"FIRE!"

…...

Still nothing. This was really starting to piss me off. Maybe Vivi just forgot be had cast the spell, and just thought i'd done it.

But man did I want to see that shelf burn!

Gritting my teeth, I gave it one last go.

"Fire!"

A fireball, much smaller than the one that had hurdled towards prison cage suddenly came into existence. I leaped back, eyes wide as it shot towards the shelf, burning the left side of it, making it come crashing down into a pile of pots and pans. The resounding noise was MORE than enough to wake up Vivi, who nearly flew out of his bed at the noise. I could hear rushed footsteps outside the room, and Zidane and Steiner both rushed in, looking rather alarmed. Zidane quickly ran over to the small fire, stomping it out, and Steiner looked over at me with a ' What the hell happened?' kind of look.

"I didn't do it!" I exclaimed out of reflex. "It was the gremlins!"

"G..gremlins..?" Vivi squeaked out, looking around the room frantically for these so called 'Gremlins'

"Er...it's okay now Vivi. There gone now." I said in his direction, scratching the back of my head.

"Oh, okay." He replied quietly, but still was looking around nervously.

"By the way Vivi, now that your up, take this, it's your medicine." I said, getting up off the bed and walking over to him, handing him the vial to take.

"Thanks"

Uncorking the vial he gulped it down, squinting his eyes at the taste.

"Yuck!" He groaned in distaste, sticking his tongue ( oh hey, he does have one!) out.

"Master Vivi, are you alright?" I heard Steiner say, coming up next to the bed.

"M..master?" Vivi stated with a shocked voice. "H..huh? But I can't do anything!"

Steiner shook his head.

"Hardly master Vivi. You're magic was highly effective against the monster. In all honesty, I hold you're power in higher esteem then I do these two scoundrels!"

My eyebrow ticked.

"OI! What's that supposed to mean! I burnt him up too!" I countered.

He glanced at me with an indifferent face.

"That may be so, but you had no control over it. Master Vivi, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing!"

I opened my mouth to comment back, but snapped it shut, choosing to glare instead. I wanted to say something. Truly I did. But damn it, he was right! Not like id ever tell him that anyway. So instead I stepped back with my arms folded over my chest. I'd get him back, soon...

"Are we ready to go find the princess?" I head Zidane call, having stopped the fire.

Vivi's head snapped up.

"Really? That's great! Be careful okay?"

"Come on Vivi, you're coming to right?" I added in. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"B..But im scared. ….I couldn't even do anything last time..." He answered, hanging his head down low.

"Please master Vivi. For the sake of princess Garnet and all of Alexandria. I humbly ask for you assistance!" Steiner exclaimed, grasping the small mage by the shoulders.

"Come on! You're a black mage! Show us what you've got, huh?" Zidane said, walking up to the rest of us.

Vivi looked at one us us, to the next slowly, then he played with the rim of his hat. I could hear a little sigh come from him, before he quietly said,

"Okay"

We all smiled reassuringly at him (well, I think mine was reassuring, can't exactly see my face now), and Zidane thew one of his arms up in the air in a punch motion.

"Alright, lets go!"

I followed Zidane out the door and down the rest of the ship. Steiner and Vivi were still behind, but I knew at that time they should be talking about Steiner's 'magic sword'.

_Sounds kind of perverted when you think about it actually. No, don't think about crap like that, karma will bitch slap you if you do. Think about puppies. Yeah, puppies are nice... I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight? Hopefully not tacos. No one needs the runs when their out in the woods. How did puppies lead to taco's anyway? _I thought to myself, then shook of the thought. It was getting WAY to sidetracked. _Speaking of tacos, I've got to admit this is getting to be way to crazy to be a dream or hallucination. Things hurt me, have smell...taste...something not even I could dream up. But If this is real, how did I get here? How do I get back?_

"What are you thinking about? You're getting wrinkles in you forehead."

I blinked, looking over at Zidane.

"Uh...puppies."

"Puppies?"

"Yep."

"Er...right. Anyway, lets wait for them here. They should be on their way soon." He said, pointing to the clearing where we had fought the prison cages.

"Wow, we made it all the way here already?" I asked, a little stunned.

"Yeah. Puppies...it's an intense subject. I'm not surprised you were distracted by it."

I smacked him on the back of the head playfully, and he laughed.

~oOo~

We waited in the clearing for nearly 10 minutes for Steiner and Vivi to show up. Apparently the had ran into a few Fangs on the way over, and had to deal with them before they could join back up with us. Grouped back together, we continued down the path until we came to another clearing a recognized from the game. There was a small pool of crystal clear water, and next to it was a hollowed out stump. As we passed it, I glanced down it curiously, and looked down into the eyes of what I easily identified as a moogle.

"Don't you get claustrophobic down there?" I asked it more to myself than anything.

It looked at me for a moment. Blinked, and answered,

"Nope."

"Right then. Have fun with...whatever your doing down there." I said back, giving the creature a wave and continuing along with the others who were giving me curious looks. "What. I got a bogey hanging outta my nose or something?"

I looked behind me back at the stump. The moogle was freakn' staring at me.

_Oh great. I found creeper moogle._

"Is there a monster over there?" Zidane asked.

I shook my head, looking back out in front of me.

"Naw, don't worry about it" I replied with a shrug.

He looked behind him, and not seeing anything shrugged and trudged along as well.

Ahead of us appeared to be a giant hole in a massive tree, and I knew, this was it. This is where the Plant Brain was lurking.

"Guys, I think this is where she is..." I said, getting the attention on the three others.

"Here? The princess is in here?" Steiner asked, seemingly ready to charge right in there after I said it.

"Alright then, let's go!" Zidane exclaimed, already climbing up into the hole.

The rest of us quickly followed behind, and we dropped into the room on the other side. Such enough, there was the Plant Brain, Dagger hovering behind it as it sat in the middle of the room, seeming to be waiting for us.

"PRINCESS!" Steiner shouted, drawing his sword, while Zidane readied his daggers and I grasped onto my rings tightly.

"Don't worry Rusty! We'll beat up this thing and have her down in no time!" Zidane called out to the knight.

Plant Brain, seeing the new arrivals, bellowed out a high-piched wail, swinging one of it's vined in a full sweep towards all of us, while the other came down headign right for Steiner. I jumped back, avoiding the one inteaded of all of us, but I heard Steiner grunt in pain as the second vine caught him off balance and sent him tumbing to the ground. Zidane went in for an attack at it's center eye (?) and Vivi cast a fire spell towards it as well. At the same time, another vine was heading for Steiner, and without even thinking about it I tossed one of my rines towards the vine.

It caught it on the way down towards the knight, severing it clean off before it could touch. Him. The metallic buzz of the ring I had thrown became louder and with wide eyes I realized it was coming back to me like a bomerang. Holding out my hand it seemed to neatly come back to me, making it very easy for me to catch.

Steiner nodded over to me, he had seen who had thrown it.

_There, now we're even. But im gonna have to ask somebody how the ring came back when I get the chance. _

I heard the monster give out a loud roar, obviously things were not going so well for it. Steiner was on the move again to, this time his blade glowing a light red in color. He slashed down at the mutant plant, leaving scorch marks there the blade had hit.

_Must have been fire sword. Sweet. _

Another fireball hit it in the side, sending it flailing it's vine at Vivi, who only managed not to get beat into dust because of Zidane who slashed it away before it hit.

_Maybe I should throw a fireball too!_

With that in mind, I pointed my hand out towards the Plant Brain.

"Fire!"

I blinked. Nothing happened.

"What are you doing? Are you going to cast the spell or not?" I heard Steiner growl out to me.

_Why isn't it working? Am I out of MP or whatever?_

"Why don't you try it then and we'll see what happens!" I growled back.

The monster started making a low rumbling noise, and suddenly a wave of black dust shot out from the center of it's body, landing across Steiner and I's faces.

"EWWW GROSS! What it just put on me!" I exclaimed, feeling panic start to set in. I couldn't see!

_I am BLINDED!_

I could hear so many noises going on around me. Was it the Plant Brain? Zidane? Steiner? Was Vivi coming up from behind me? And how in the world hid silver spectacles stop this kind of crap from happening?

"Hang on, I got you covered." A voice said from right next to me. I could feel someone tip my head back, and something cold was dripped into my eyes. My world was quickly pulled out of darkness, and I could see the red head who had helped me, a quirky smile on his face. "All good now?

I nodded.

"Yeah, thanks Blank." I replied. Alright, time to go back an rejoin the fray.

While Blank went to go help Steiner with his sight problem, I ran towards the Plant Brain ( stupid, I know), ducking under a flailing vine as I approached the center eye where Zidane currently had his dagger pushed in. The monster was flailing at this, sending Zidane swinging every which way in an effort to hang on the best he could, but finally he was thrown off to the side, one of his daggers still stuck in the beast. Vivi had been knocked to the ground by a vine, and was currently drinking a potion in order to get enough strength to stand and fight again.

I was getting angry.

_How DARE this thing hurt my friends! This thing should BURN._

I barely felt the rings in my hands start to get warm, nor did I even notice what I was doing. All I could feel was a longing to see flames, to let this monster be engulfed in them.

"Dragon Blaze!" I shouted, throwing my rings at the center of the monster.

The rings almost instantly had flames dancing down them, and upon contact with the Plant Brain, sent it up in a burst of spiraling orange and red fire. They disconnected from the monster, and as if driven, came right back into my shaking hands. They didn't even feel warm. I could feel my heart thrumming wildly in my chest. This...was not normal. By the looks everyone was giving me, not for them, and certainly not for me.

_What did I just DO?_

"Aires, what was that?" I heard Blank ask behind me. Zidane and Steiner, although giving me a quick curious glance, were now helping Dagger down, giving her the medicine.

_Now there's the million dollar question._

"It's...a skill that I know. My teacher in...Treno taught it to me before he passed away." I quickly said, trying to come up with SOMETHING to at least appease him. In all reality, I'd like to know just as much as he did.

He nodded, though slowly. He didn't believe me, I could tell. But at least he wasn't calling me out on it.

Vivi was walking over to me, as was Zidane and Steiner who was carrying an unconscious Dagger.

"What do we do now?" Vivi asked with a worried tone.

The decision was made for us. Plant Brain's burnt corpse on the ground suddenly began to bubble up, bigger, bigger, and...BOOM! It exploded outwards, and from within it dozens of spider-like creatures poured out from it. My eyes widened. I HATE spiders! Even those tiny ones that hang out behind your garbage in the bathroom. I HATE THEM ALL.

"OH MY GOD RUN AWAY!" I exclaimed, grabbing onto Vivi's hand and practically dragging him along behind me.

Everyone else didn't need to be told twice, and im surprised that Rusty was able to book it that fast considering that not only was he wearing armor, but he was carrying Dagger as well. He must hate spiders as much as I do!

The trees around us seemed to be coming alive, their vines thrashing against the bark and ground, and those spiders popping out of every available crevice. I could hear them getting closer, and I began to panic. What if we didn't make it out? What if I got stuck in this forest as it petrified? Would anyone come back for me?

"Blank!"

That was Zidane's voice! I looked behind me quickly to see what was going. The forest's petrification was getting closer, and I saw Zidane reach down and grab something off the ground.

_The map!_

I turned my head to look in front of me again, and I could see it. The light! We were almost out!. Putting on an extra burst of speed, I fully picked Vivi up and made a mad dash to the exit. Almost...almost...!

We burst from the foliage, rolling towards the ground. I could hear Zidane, Steiner, and Dagger make it though as well, and the forest slam shut an petrify, but I didn't bother to look. I hurt far to bad. Laying here for, I don't know, the next 20 hours sounds pretty awesome right now. As Vivi hadn't moved from his spot on the ground, I figured he had about the same idea if the panting was anything to go by.

"We...we made it!" I heard Steiner huff but after that, everything started to blur out, and then I fell to sleep.

~oOo~

The next morning, I was awoken to the sounds of movement in my near vicinity. Breathing in deeply, I stretched my body, popping stiff joints before pushing myself up into a sitting position. With a loud yawn I opened my eyes, looking around the make-shift camp around me. Zidane was standing over by the closed of forest, a sad look on his face, and Dagger was walking up to him, prolly to talk about Blank. Steiner was packing up a makeshift tent to my left, and Vivi as sitting on a rock near what they had used for a campfire the previous night. I stood up, and stretched one more time to pop my back.

"Hey, can somebody tell me where the can is at? I kinda gotta go." I said in my sleepy morning voice.

"The can? Why do you need a can?" Vivi answered me with confusion.

I shook my head.

"You know...the little girl's room? The jon? A toilet?"

_Oh my god, now that I think about it, if this world it mid-evil like, do they even have toilets? Or they still using chamberpots?_

The though horrified me.

"We are in the middle of no-where. There are no toilets." Steiner cut in, and I breathed an internal sigh of relief. They knew what toilets were! "You will have to relieve yourself in the bushes over there." He finished, pointing to a seemingly inconspicuous patch of bushes about 30 feet away.

My nose crinkled at the thought. Nature is so much kinder to a guy.

"There doesn't happen to be any poisonous plants over there, would there? Because if I come back with an itch.."

Steiner just waved me off, finishing packing up the tent.

"No one's come back with an itch yet."

_Eeeww. An already used bush. Wonderful. But desperate times I guess..._

When finished with my morning duty, I saw that everyone looked about ready to leave. Well, sort of anyway. They were arguing amongst themselves.

"We have to get back to Alexandria! I will-"

_Aaand there goes Steiner back on one of his 'bring the princess home' triads. I wonder what he would think if he knew what the queen was planning on doing to her?_

"Steiner, I left the castle of my own will" Dagger said back to him calmly.

"What a coincidence, eh? We went to go snatch her, and she wanted to be snatched!" Zidane added with a grin.

"Impossible!" The knight growled back to the tailed teen, and Dagger shook her head.

"It's true."

"Aw come on Rusty! Let's be friends and enjoy this camping trip while it lasts!"

Great. Now I can hear that 'Why can't we be friends!' song in my head...

"Camping! You imbecile! Surely even you must know something about the mist! The monsters it spawns, the abnormalities it stirs in the body and mind..! Princess, we must leave this dangerous place at once!"

_-why can't we be friends~?_

"But she hasn't even recovered yet!" Zidane countered. "And besides, where do you plan on going? We're stuck in a valley surrounded by tall cliffs, and last I hear, North and South Gates were sealed off!"

_-why can't we be frieeeeeends!_

"Um...I think I know where we can go." Vivi suddenly said quietly, pulling everyone's attention.

"You know a way Master Vivi?" Steiner asked the little mage hopefully.

"Well, my grandpa told me about a cavern around here that came up to above the mist.." The mage answered.

"The Ice Caverns. I read about it in a book I acquired from the Alexandrian Royal Library. It stated that there is beautiful floral crystallizations there. I would love to see it." Dagger added with a nod.

"Then it's settled! We'll head for the Ice Caverns." Zidane exclaimed.

"What! I will never follow your-!"

"Dude! Just shut up already, will ya? It's not like you have any better ideas. What were you planning on doing. Just taking you and the princess by yourselves on a lovely stroll though the valley until something came up? Like, a monster?" I exclaimed. So much for 'why can't we be friends.'

"But-!"

"No Steiner. It's the best course of action we have at this time." Dagger said cutting him off.

"I..understand princess." Steiner answered in a defeated tone.

I felt Zidane elbow me in the side, and I looked over to see what he wanted.

"Alexandria's got their knights whipped!" He said in a quiet voice, and I couldn't help but laugh quietly at that.

Steiner glared at us. Wonder if he heard?

"Well, better stop just standing around here like a bunch of idiots. The old guy's gonna rust into the ground if we hang out to much longer." I said cheekily, watching Steiner's eyebrow twitch at my words.

"You little..!" He lifted his broadsword, and took off in my direction, and me, not being stupid, ran the hell away laughing.

I guess this might be pretty fun after all.

And there's the end of chapter 4. What do ya think? I got so many little twists and turns planned for the plot of this story, and I hope everyone likes them! If you have any ideas on things you might want to see done, or things that are confusing you ( that I can answer at this time without spoiling it) lemme know! My ears (?) are always open!


	5. It's Getting Cold in Here

A/N:Holy crap people, don't kill me. I can explain. I dropped my computer, and it kinda went…..boom. And me being the poor geek that I am, it took me FOREVER to get a new computer. But fear not! Here I am, and I still lufs you all. So if you love me, you'll all review like the good peeps I know you are. Well anyway, on with the show, yeah?

Disclaimer: Do not own FF9. If i did, i'd never eat raman noodles again! (Okay, that's a lie...)

Chapter 5: It's Getting Cold in Here…..

Traveling, I have found, is not very fun. When you're playing the game, it takes all of like, 3 seconds to get from Evil Forrest to the Ice Caverns. TOTALLY not the case here. We've been traveling for 2 days, and are only now approaching the entrance to the Caverns. And it's COLD.

I find myself looking around at the scenery around me. It is actually rather pretty, you know, in a frozen apocalypse kind of way. Vivi looks exited, Garnets in awe, Steiner looks…really grumpy still, (been complaining the whole time. It grew tiresome after the first half an hour, never mind two days) and Zidane looks nearly frozen. (I see icicles on his tail. That really can't be comfortable) I feel for the guy to. I HATE the cold with a burning passion in my soul. Being the lightweight that I am, even 70 degrees can feel cold to me, never mind whatever temp this is, and with the outfit I'm wearing, it really doesn't help.

"Can we get going? I'm FREEZING here" I exclaim to everyone in general, as they were all basically just standing there admiring the view.

"Oh but it's such a beautiful place! Actually seeing it is so much better than reading it a book!" Garnet breathed, reaching out to touch one of the frozen flowers before her.

"Princess please! Don't touch anything!" Steiner shouted, directing the princess away from the frozen flora.

Zidane, rubbing his hands up and down his arms and pacing a little ways away from us nodded up and down quickly.

"I agree! Let's go! My tail's freezing off!"

Steiner shot him a glare over his shoulder, but didn't say anything, for which I am thankful for. When I'm cold, my patience wears thin, and I really didn't want to stand here and listen to them argue right now. I walked over to Vivi, who was still looking around curiously around the place, seemingly ignorant of his surroundings.

"Coming Vivi?" I asked, holding my hand out to the little mage.

"Oh..Oh yeah." He stated back, adjusting his hat and taking my hand.

We walked further into the cave, steadily going up higher. The floor was slippery though, and we kept having to brace ourselves on the wall so we wouldn't slide down or biff it. (That would have been SUPER embarrassing. For me anyway. Would have laughed my ass off had it been Steiner) Eventually the pathway we were walking on stopped, and a large slab of ice blocked our way. Zidane was examining it thoroughly, seeming to be a bit confused.

"What's this? What a strange wall…there's got to be something behind it…." He looked over towards me and Vivi. "Hey Vivi!"

Vivi jumped a bit startled at his name being called.

"Y..Yes?" He stuttered.

"You think you can melt this with you magic?" Zidane answered, gesturing to the wall.

"And once again, I am brushed off to the side…" I mumbled. So I still haven't got the fire thing down. So sue me.

"I.. I'm c..coming!"

I gotta admit. I'm just a tad (okay, maybe a lot) jealous of Vivi in this regard. (Not the whole existence crisis thing he goes though later. No thank you!) Everyone already relies on him for magic, and here I am, apparently capable, yet I suck so hard at it that they don't even bother asking me. I don't know whether to be sad, or highly offended.

I choose offended.

"Whoa! See! I know there was something behind this wall! There's prolly more walls like this ahead! I'm counting on you Vivi!"

Yeah. A bit offended.

We kept on walking until we came across a cliff area. The paths were uncomfortably narrow, and the drop was more than enough to take us out if we fell down. Add to the fact that it was breezy here and it made it just downright miserable. Vivi was hanging onto me tightly, head down to break the wind whipping by, as I used my free arm to do the same. With each step a didn't have complete control over it made me more and more nervous, and when I felt Vivi slip and nearly fall over the edge, my heart I'm pretty sure stopped for a moment.

"You guys alright?" I heard Zidane call from ahead of us. Garnet and Steiner had also stopped, assessing to see if we were in fact okay.

"Yeah, just a bit of a slip, it's all good. You guys keep going" I shouted back to them, then looked down at the mage. "You gonna make it Vivi?"

He nodded, gripping my hand and arm with both of his tighter. Good grief this kid could be cute.

I nodded, and we continued walking slowly towards the end of the narrow walkway, breathing deep and gratefully when the path widened out and we could walk normally again.

"Well that was exiting, wasn't it?" I said, more to myself really then to anyone, who upon further inspection were a lot further ahead of us then I would have liked them to be. "Crap, we gotta hurry up before we're left behind!"

We really had only made it a couple of steps further before the wind really went and picked up again, and to my horror and utter dismay I heard a rumbling that sure as HELL wasn't the wind. At the same time, both Vivi and I looked to our left, were a wooly mammoth-like monstrosity with long tusks was quickly approaching us.

"Oh for the love of…SERIOUSLY?!"

"Oh no!"

I jumped to the side, taking Vivi along with me as the beast charged right past us, nearly crushing my head as I rolled/slid across the ground. Yanking Vivi up by the sleeve, I pushed him the direction of the others.

"Quick! Go get everyone else! Freakin hurry!"

"B…but!"

The Wyerd, at least if I remember that's what it's called, upon realizing it missed us (should have been obvious really, what with the lack of 'SPAT') turned around, pawed at the ground like a bull, and charged at us once again.

"GO!"

Vivi didn't need to be told again, thank god, and rushed off to the others. Meanwhile, I grabbed my rings and began to contemplate just how retarded I actually was. Which at this point seemed to be a lot. It got to me way faster than I would have liked, and I barely had enough time to put up my rings in defense before the wyerd pulled back it's tusks and sent them crashing into me with the force of a professional baseball player swinging at me with a metal bat. I felt myself actually lift off the ground and went backwards several feet, nearly to the edge of the cliff face.

"shit…shit…"

I felt blood trailing down my arms. They must have either been cut on the tusks, or I managed to injure myself on my own rings. Man would that be embarrassing. But really, no time to contemplate that now. Already the monster was coming back for more, and if I got hit like that again, I definitely would be taking a dive off the cliff.

Tossing one of my rings, I caught it on the left side of it's face. It shrieked and kept on coming at me though, I think all I managed to do is piss it off. Great. The ring in a matter of moments came back to me and I caught it, still wondering vaguely how it actually did that…no! Concentrate! Scary monster thing gonna keeeeel youuu!

"Aires! Heads up!"

"Wha..?"

Suddenly the wyerd was flailing it's head back and forth, stomping its legs on the ground madly.

CLINK!

I looked down, and I felt my eyes widen. The fragging ice was creaking! Towards me! SHIT! I ran as fast as I could towards the group that had arrived to help me where the ice was still fine, but I felt the ground shift beneath me, going down.

_Oh my god, I'm gonna die! What happens when I die?!_

A sense of vertigo came over me, and I felt my heart literally leap into my throat as I felt myself start to drop. And wasn't it ridiculous, the monster gets to avoid the fall, but I don't? I don't even get to go out the victor? Can I seriously not even handle one monster by myself? I closed my eyes, and waited for the inevitable drop and spat.

Only….

"Hang on, I got you!"

Someone had me by the arm as a dangled from the side, and whoever it was, was colder than even the caverns.

Ah, metal. Wait. What…?

"Steiner?"

I felt myself be roughly pulled up from over the side and deposited next to a worried Garnet and Vivi.

"Oh my Aires! Are you alright? Your arms! Here, I'll take care of that!" Garnet exclaimed, holding up her rod towards my arms. "Cure!"

I watched (though I find myself still in a state of shock. Nearly falling off a cliff and having Steiner of all people save you) mystified as a white light came from her and wrapped around my arms, seeping into the cuts that had formed, and before my eyes in seconds I watched them close until they were merely scratches on my skin. Still kind of painful scratches, but they weren't bleeding anymore. I guess even magic can only take things so far.

"Wow, thanks Garnet! And um, thank you to I guess Rusty. Maybe you're not such a bad guy after all." I said to the two of them, who both nodded, Garnet with a 'yay I did something good for somebody~!' smile and Steiner with a 'let's never speak of this again. EVER.' Straight faced look. Well fine. Be that way. "By the way, where's…?"

There was another loud roaring noise, and I looked towards the commotion to see Zidane leaping and dodging around the wyerd like some kind of rodeo clown. Only with more 'stab stab stab' involved. It (not gonna bother to check if it's a boy or girl) seemed to be slowing down some, so Zidane must have been wearing it down while Steiner was…um…helping me up.

"Come on! We need to go help him!" Garnet stated, making her way over into the fray.

"Princess! Wait!" Steiner exclaimed, following the orange clad girl (ridiculous outfit. Maybe I can get her to wear something not nearly as ugly) and seemingly forgetting about me and Vivi. Again.

"Should w..we go help too?" Vivi asked up at me, his yellow eyes wide.

"Ummm…"

I'm quickly figuring out that I'm not very good in a fight, and it seems to me to be more accident than anything when I do manage to help out. (The fire spell and that 'Dragon Blaze,' whatever that was. Maybe like a tech skill of some kind?) On the way to the caves, we had come across a few random monsters, most of which I just stayed back and guarded Vivi as he cast his spells. In that time, I also figured out a way to acquire gil. (The monsters like the taste of gil, and travelers would often toss gil at monsters heading their way in order to be able to flee from them, so as we killed a few monsters, sometimes their insidey parts would have gil stored inside. So if you were feeling a little adventurous, you could cut them up and see what you could find. I myself found 514 gil and two potions. I don't think I wanna know how the potions got there, but I imagine someone had a pretty bad day if it's because of why I think they were. At least it explained why you lost money when you ran away in battle in the game)

I didn't have to wonder if we had to help too much longer though. In all my musings, a barely noticed when the wyerd gave a loud screech, and dropped to the ground with a great 'boom!' noise, Zidane standing on top of it like the conquering hero.

"Did you see that princess? Wasn't I great?" Zidane laughed, leaping off the beast in a front flip. Showoff.

"You did wonderful Zidane!" Garnet replied also with a laugh. I could tell rusty didn't like that to much if his wild hand gesturing was anything to go by.

"Princess! This ruffian doesn't deserve your praise!" He exclaimed, and I couldn't help but sigh, wondering when this bickering was gonna simmer down. If it took two days to get from Evil Forrest to the Ice Caverns, then I didn't even want to think about it.

"Guys, can we just go now? It's still cold, and I'm having a bit of an internal crisis over here." I grumbled, my mood being killed (not that I was in a great mood to begin with, what with it being so cold) by the thoughts of being essentially useless.

Zidane scratched the back of his head with a shrug, and gestured over to the fallen wyerd.

"So, anyone hungry?"

Garnet scrunched up her nose in distaste, as did Steiner, while I felt myself gag a little.

"After that attempt you made with the Mu the other day? I thought I was going to die. You eat it if you're hungry, but I'd like to see the light of another day thank you." I replied with a shake of my head. I realize the thing is basically a large, angry squirrel, but dear god, it was TERRIBLE.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad…"

"Yes it was. It was, to this day, that most horrible thing I've ever attempted to eat. I think I'd have better luck trying to eat a flan. For safety purposes, I suggest you never try and make me food again. EVER."

"You're very melodramatic."

"You tried to poison me."

Zidane arched an eyebrow, and started laughing, and I couldn't help it, I giggled a bit to, feeling just a bit better. He may be a bit of a goof, but he's a lovable goof, I'll give him that.

"So, were you going to body check it, or just leave it here?" He asked.

I shrugged.

"I guess I'll check it, but then we really need to get out of here, this room is way too cold to stay in." I answered, approaching the downed monster.

Now for the nasty part…

~oOo~

"It had and ARMGUARD in it. Why in the WORLD would there be an armguard in there?!" I exclaimed in disgust as we walked down a tunnel-like area of the caves. (Though it still didn't stop me from cleaning it off and equipping it to my left arm anyway. Hey I'm squishy! Gotta boost my defense stat somehow! Besides, it was worth the 644 gil that was also there! I'm gonna be rich bish!)

"Do you really wanna know?" Zidane asked over his shoulder.

"…no"

"Well okay then."

The path ahead split into two sections, and I found myself suddenly stopping, only to have Vivi who was right behind me run into my legs and fall down onto his butt with a 'oof!'

_Oh crap, this is the part where that black waltz comes and icicles everyone until Zidane kicks his ass. What if he messes it up though? Or what if I don't wake up? Or…._

"A..aires?"

"Hmmm…?" Oh right. "Yeah, sorry Vivi, here…" I grab his arm and hoist him up, brushing off his little robe and grabbing his hand, speed walking to catch up to everyone again. I was really getting tiered of practically getting left behind. I realize I'm not important to the plot or anything, but come on. At least they were heading to the left, so I don't have to have my anxiety attack quite yet.

We walked into what appeared to almost be a room, or a dead end at any rate. All that was in there was empty space and a stump in the middle with a frozen creature on top of it.

_Hey isn't that that crazy moogle?_

"Guys, is that a moogle, or am I hallucinating?" I stated, pointing to the frozen creature.

Zidane walked up and peered closely at it.

"Huh. What do'ya know. It is. Poor guy, wonder if we can get him out?"

_Here's my chance!_

"Lemme try. I wanna see if I got this spell thing down yet!"

_Okay Aires. Here we go. Don't fuck this up again._

"Well, if you wanna go for it…" Zidane said, backing away from the moogle. Prolly in case I started him on fire instead.

I took in a deep breath and let it out. There really has to be an easier way to do this. Vivi always seems to be able to do this on a whim, why must it be so hard for me? Alright, enough. VISUALIZE GIRL! I need to melt the ice, and for that, I need fire. I need the flames to cover the ice. I can do this!

"Fire!"

I can actually FEEL the silence around me, along with my face heating up. Nothing was happening, not even a spark of magic. Why couldn't I seem to get this to work?!

"It's okay Aires…I..I got it…" Vivi said quietly next to me, walking ahead of me and pointing his staff at the moogle. "Fire!"

Immediately the ice melted, along with starting some of the moogle's fur on fire.

"You BASTARD!" The white creature screeched, bouncing up and down for a moment, before realizing it was no longer frozen. "Oh hey! Thanks! I've been stuck there for a while now! Don't even know what happened! I just suddenly couldn't move anymore!"

While the others were busy checking on the moogle and seeing if it was okay, I found myself feeling disappointed in myself. I was so exited those first couple times I managed to do magic, even if they were on accident, and now when I try, nothing happens. Am I out of MP? Was it a fluke?

_I wonder if I should just stay in a town and wait for this all to be over with. I'm not needed, and I'm certainly no help._

"Let's go Aires. We're going to try that other path now, okay?" Zidane called, waving over to me to come follow him and the others. I felt a small hand grasp mine, and a wide-eyed mage looking up at me.

"It's o…okay. I didn't get it r…right away either. You just n…need to learn to get to your mana point, a…and it will c…come much easier then." The little mage said, pulling on my hand towards the group.

"My…mana point?" MP?

"Y…yeah. It's the force that m…magic users are able to wield. We're b…born with it. It's what allows our w…will into being. It starts out based on em…emotion, and once the con…connection is made, it can be f…freely used." He explained quietly to me, like it was a secret. And who knows? Maybe it was for all I knew.

"Thanks Vivi, I'll keep on trying then" I said back to him with a smile, and I think he may have smiled back. (Hard to tell with him.)

~oOo~

Remember when I said that it was cold in here? Yeah. It was NOTHING compared to this. We had just made it outside when the weather took a very nasty and highly unwelcome plummet into the abyss. I have NEVER been this cold in my 19 years of existence. I think I could have just woken up in a bath full of ice with one of my kidneys missing, and I STILL would have been warmer than this.

Vivi was in my arms, the poor little guy shaking so hard I'm surprised he hasn't concussed himself, holding onto me so tight it was actually getting hard to breath. At least I hoped that was the reason, The others were faring no better either. Zidane had his tail wrapped around him, prolly in an effort to keep it from freezing and dropping off on him, Garnet close by and Steiner hovering over them like a demented chaperone even as he shook so hard in his armor that it was practically vibrating.

"G…Guys! Hur…hurry up o…or y…you'll get left be…behind!" Zidane shouted to us. I hadn't even noticed that we were beginning to trail behind. It was just so cold, and I was feeling so sleepy…

I could feel myself waver where I was, and Vivi's weight in my arms seemed to have suddenly quadrupled, and I didn't even have the strength to flinch when he fell down with a thud, not moving from where he landed on the snow. I vaguely saw Steiner come towards us, looking more worried than id ever seen him unless it involved the princess. My legs beneath me gave out, and the last thing I recall is Steiner asking if we were okay…

So, what do you guys think? Don't forget to review me! I luf me my reviews!


	6. A Rose by Any Other Name

A/N: Here we go with another. Was going to make the last chapter longer, but I really just wanted to get it out. Anywho, here's the next chappie for you!

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 9. That would be the peeps at Square Enix. Lucky bastards

Reviews: BurningMind: Glad to be back XD. As for her class, idk what you would call her. She's kind of a middle ground person. At least atm.

Ayn Soph: Thanks. I'll try to keep writing!

Anon. Girl: Ty. I hope I keep doing good! :D

Chapter 6: A Rose my any Other Name

The image in front of me was blurred at best, but at least it was SOMETHING other than the complete darkness around me. It was large, very large actually, and I could make out the colors of blue, black and white making up it's body.

"You're really going to let a bit of cold be your undoing? Pathetic." The voice rumbled , sounding an awful lot like…

…mine…

"Who are you?!" I yelled to the image, heart beating fast in my ribcage to the point where I thought it would explode from my chest.

The image rumbled in what I assumed was a laugh, and what I assumed was it's head shifted closer so that it was right in front of me.

"I am you. Or, at least, I can be." It replied.

"W..wait! What?!"

The image shifted back again, and two more blurry things erupted from the sides.

"It is time for you to arise. We are needed." It stated cryptically, and in a sudden movement launched itself up into the darkness until I could see it no longer.

"H…hey wait! What do you mean?! How can you be me?!" I exclaimed into the darkness, feeling the sudden and extreme need to pull out my own hair in confusion.

"Our time is up, but our connection grows. We will meet again." The darkness replied, and I could do nothing but listen to the words echo in the nether.

~oOo~

I felt myself go from unconsciousness to full awareness as though a switch had been turned on in my head. It was uncomfortable (There's a rock diging into the side of my head, and im partially on top of Vivi) and instantly brought me back to just how freakn cold I am.

"Urg…"

"Zidane?" I called towards the noise.

"Aires? You okay over there? Everyone just started…falling down." Groaned the tailed theif, pushing himself up as I did the same.

"I…I'm okay. Doesn't look like anyone else is as lucky though." I replied looking down at my other comrades. "I think they're just unconscious."

Zidane nodded, then looked around.

"You know what woke us up? I thought I heard bells a moment ago…"

As if on cue, both of us perked out heads up as the soft sound of bell echoed off the icy cliff walls.

"Did you hear that?" He asked, looking off towards the direction the bells had come from.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Um…should we go check it out?"

"We prolly should. I don't know why there are bells ringing, maybe it's someone who could help?"

_Or, you know. Try to kill us. Whatever._

"Is it a good idea to just leave everyone here? What if something happens?" I said, and with good point to I might add. There were monsters here, what if something came around and just, I don't know, took off with one of them or something.

"They'll be fine for a few minutes. The longer we stand here though, the longer they wait here, so come on!"

_Guess there's no way around it. Awe man this sucks hard._

"Alright alright. I'm coming…"

We walked further down the trail, following the jingle of the bells. After about 15 minutes, we came to a wide area with a frozen waterfall, and upon the ledge ahead of us was just who I expected to see. He looked like Vivi, though larger and hunched over, and two ragged looking black wings were attached to his back.

"You two should be asleep…" I heard it grumble, prolly to itself. "Yes…they should be dead by now…"

"Are you the one causing this blizzard?" Zidane shouted up at the black mage, jarring it out of it's musings.

"Hehehehehe! That's right! But seeing as you didn't fall for my trap, I'll just take care of you two the old fashioned way! Sealion! Come!"

The ground started to violently shake, and both Zidane and I leapt back as a huge, blue serpent-like creature burst from the ground, sending up a huge cloud od snow and dust. The black mage jumped down from the cliff face next to the creature, jingling is bell in delight. Both me and Zidane drew our weapons, and he nudged me in the side, effectively getting my attention.

"You take the black mage, I'll deal with snakey. You alright with that?"

Sealion roared, shaking the ground around me.

"Yep."

"Alright. Head's up!"

Sealion whipped at as, and we both jumped in opposite directions in order to avoid it's jaws. Zidane brought his dagger down onto it's head, making it rear up and hiss, getting it's full attention as it coiled back and whipped around at the thief, chasing him in a fury. Meanwhile I threw one of my rings at the mage, only to have the thing sail right by him and back at me without managing to land a hit. (How I guy who looks like he has scoliosis dodged it I have no idea)

"Hehehehehe! Is that the best you have? Pity!" The mage cackled. "This is how it's done! Blizzard!"

I barely had time to register that he had cast a spell before chunks of ice were raining down at me from above. Putting my arms above my head I attempted to dodge the frozen blocks, but two of them still hit me on the right shoulder and scraping across the left side of my face. I wasn't very sure how badly I was hurt from it, everything seems to hurt so much more when your cold. But just in case, I quickly reached into my bag and drew out a potion and uncorked it, downing the red liquid (And trying VERY hard to forget where exactly I got it) that tasted l bit like apples. Almost immediately I felt a little better, but my face and arm still throbbed from the impact.

"Already had enough? I thought you would be more fun to play with. What a shame. I guess we'll just finish this now then." The crazy mage exclaimed, lifting his staff in order to cast another spell.

"Watch out!"

I looked to my side, just in time to see, Zidane, who was for some reason riding the Sealion bronco style, coming towards us on the flailing creature. My eyes widened, and I had just enough time to dodge out of the way. The mage, however, did not, and was sent flying several feet back at the impact in a very undignified screech.

"You little-!"

Not giving him enough time to finish that statement (It more than likely would have been highly offensive, and may have ended with 'yo mamma!') I tossed my rings at him again, one cutting of half of his left wing in a burst of feathers and…goo…the other knocking his staff out of his hands, as it had cut across his hands. The rings came neatly back to me again, and I readied them for another throw.

_I might actually be able to do this! If only that fire spell was working, what with the fire beats ice super effective dynamics. Thank you pokemon._

"Enough! Blizzard!"

With the lapse in focus, I didn't even realize he was on his way to attacking me until the ice chunks were about to fall on me again. Not even paying attention to what I was doing, I did the first think that came to my head. I lifted my arms up, scrunched my eyes, and exclaimed "FIRE!"

Something wet hit me on the face, and I flinched at the thought of getting pummeled by ice again. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes only to see melted snow and ice around me.

It. It worked! BOO-YEAH!

"What? NO!" The mage roared in anger, gesturing to me again as he went to cast a spell. Couldn't have that, could i?

"Fire!"

I felt a thrill go through me as I saw the fireball form and launch at the mage, but nausea quickly replaced it when the mage's robes, then wings burst into flame and he began to flail around as he was consumed by the flame. (I hope everything doesn't go up like this from a fire spell. Maybe it's because it's 'super effective?')

"Sealion! Destroy them for me!" The mage yowled, literally turning into ash before me.

Choking a bit on the smell alone (you ever smell burning skin and feathers? No pleasant) I looked over to where Zidane was now bouncing back and forth avoiding the serpents jaws as it continued to snap at him. I noticed the orb at the center of it's chest was red, so that must have meant that he had already worn it down quite a bit already. Flinging one of my rings at the beast, I clipped it across the snout, and it stopped biting at Zidane, turning it's head towards me.

_Now well that was stupid._

"Um…sorry?"

The sealion hissed (I don't think he accepted my apology) and charged, and I turned face and freakn ran. (It must have been funny to, because I could swear I heard Zidane laughing at me)

_Left right left right left right! Zigzag Aires! Zigigag!_

I Heard the Sealion do it's screech/roar/hiss thing again, and I took the moment to look behind me. Zidane was on it's head again, one of his daggers in it's eye as he held on tight to keep from getting flung off. Stopping abruptly, I tossed both my rings at the creature, cutting it in an X pattern across it's face. It violently lashed it's head to the side, throwing Zidane off who rolled on the ground and leapt to his feet like the ninja I secretly think he might be. (The thief and ninja classes in final fantasy are almost one in the same anyway, it really isn't that much of a stretch)

"Together Aires! Go for that sphere on its chest!" Zidane called to me, and I nodded, readying to toss my rings when he have the signal.

"Now!"

I threw the rings, and they sailed across the empty space and dug harshly into the red orb. The sealion reared up in pain, giving Zidane the perfect opportunity to leap up and dig his dagger into the grooves created by my rings. The orb shattered, and with a wail and a twitch, the monster collapsed on it's side, no longer moving.

"Whew. Well, that was fun." Zidane said, brushing himself off. "Whatever happened to that black mage by the way. He just kind of, poofed."

"Er well. Not really poofed. I kind of, well, bar-b-qued him. My bad." I Mumbled.

Zidane blinked. Then again.

"You…bar-b-qued him? Oh man, and I missed it? Damn!"

"You are a weird guy Zidane. And you scare me. Just a little."

He shrugged, then straightened suddenly.

"Wait, the others. You think they're okay now?" He asked

"Oh crap! Quick, let's go check!"

"You may have defeated No. 1, but No. 2 and No. 3 will surely reclaim the princess!" A voice said loudly from somewhere above us. We both looked up, but we couldn't see where the voice was coming from.

_Must be those crazy jesters. What a couple of creepers, just sitting there and watching us fight._

"Forget about it now Zidane, we have the others to worry about." I said and he nodded, and at a run we both made our way back to our fallen friends.

~oOo~

"Zidane! Aires!"

Garnet was waving towards us as we approached the now conscious group. It was great to see that everyone was okay, even if they all still looked very cold.

"Hey there." Zidane replied, waving back. "Everyone okay?"

"You! What just happened?!" Steiner demanded, stomping up to the thief and poking him harshly in the chest.

"It was no big deal, right Aires?" Zidane answered, looking over at me and shrugging .

"You two are hiding something!"

"Hey, nothing happened. You heard me."

Steiner stepped back, still glaring at Zidane.

"You didn't…touch the princess, did you?"

Zidane blinked, his face reddening a bit.

"Just what are you accusing me of?!" He defended, and I just couldn't help myself after that.

"Naw Steiner, it's not the princess you need worry about. You on the other hand…"

Zidane and Steiner looked downright horrified at the thought, and a burst out laughing.

"I…NO I DIDN'T" Zidane exclaimed, jumping back and making gaging noises.

"YOU BETTER NOT HAVE!"

I was laughing so hard that I hurt. Physically hurt. Ans wondered if it was actually possible to die laughing. Hmm. Something to look up whenever I have the chance.

"Guys, guys. It's okay. Steiner, Zidane didn't mess with you. I was just getting my giggles. Besides, that's one ship I don't think I could actually handle. It just…no. God no. Now I got the mental images. Anyone got any brain bleach on them? No? Damnit…"

"Aires? What ship are you talking about?" Vivi asked, pulling on my sleeve.

"Er…nevermind Vivi, I'll tell you when you're older." I replied with a chuckle.

"Well, I'm glad everyone is safe. Shall we be moving on?" Garnet asked towards all of us, looking solidly confused herself.

"Yeah, lets." I answered, finally settling down enough to start walking back up the trail.

Garnet walked up so that she was in pace next to me, looking deep in thought.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

"A what…?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Nevermind. What's on your mind?"

She shook her head.

"Zidane looked worried when he came back. Is everything all okay?"

_Well, I suppose I COULD tell her, but then how do I explain that I know? The could think im the bad guy…er…girl…bad girl…haha…but then they'd kick my ass. Better to lay low for a while still._

"Naw. It's nothing to worry about." I answered back with a shrug.

Garnet nodded at my answer, but I doubt she believed me.

~oOo~

"We made it through the mist! Oh the sun feels so great!" Garnet exclaimed excitedly as we emerged out of the caves and into the mountain air.

"And look! There's a village. I think I've been there before…" Zidane stated, pointing down and out to the small village that could be seen in the distance.

"It sounds like you've been everywhere before Zidane. The only other worlds I've been to before are in books. Maybe you have been to that village before. Let's go visit it!" The princess said breathily, clearly very excited to get to the small farming community.

As she started down the trail towards the village, Zidane grabbed her by the arm, stopping her decent.

"Wait! Hold it! You can't just go rushing down there! You're a princess! People are looking for you! You need a new identity!"

"And a new set of duds for that matter. You look WHY to formal in that. Seriously, I don't even know what you were thinking when you chose that. Trying to hide in bright orange? Come on now…" I added, cuz, well, wasn't everyone kind of thinking that when they were playing the game anyway?

"Insolent fool! The princess need not sneak around! Besides, we're heading back to the castle. You leave her alone. And you will address her as 'Princess' from now on, you silly peasant!" Steiner shouted angrily, pushing Zidane backwards with enough force to have one of his daggers fall out of it's sheath and onto the ground.

"Damn it Rusty! Just who do you think you are?! I don't take orders from stuck-up jerks like you!"

"You guys!" Vivi called worriedly, getting nervous with all of the fighting.

"Stop it you two! Steiner… I do not need to return to the castle, and I do see Zidane's point. I need a new name…" Garnet said, reaching down and grasping Zidane's fallen dagger. "Zidane, what's this called?"

"That? That's a dagger. All swords of that length are called daggers. Short swords are a bit longer, and the larger ones you hold with both hands are call broadswords. Then there's the…oof!"

He was rubbing his side where I'd hit him.

"Dude…she doesn't care, okay?" I said quietly to him. He looked disappointed at that.

"Oh, I see now…so this is called a dagger…" Garnet said quietly, examining the blade closely.

"Princess! Be careful! That is a weapon!" Steiner exclaimed, making to reach for the blade in her hands.

"Relax Rusty. I doubt she'll hurt herself." I said with an exasperated sigh. Guy really needs to take a chill pill or something.

"That's it! From now on, I will be called Dagger. How does that sound?" Garnet, or, Dagger I guess now, stated with triumphant decisiveness.

"That's great! Now we just need to make you sound more casual. Like me." Zidane replied with a smile.

"I shall try."

Zidane shook his head.

"No no no. What would Aires say?"

"Hell's yeah?"

"…Nevermind. What would Vivi say?"

"?"

"Um, just say…alrighty."

"Oh..a…alrighty!"

Zidane clapped his hands together.

"You'll get the hang of it! Alright everyone lets go!"

"And let's hope that place has a clothes store for the princess too. And a bathroom. With a toilet. Please let there be a toilet…"


End file.
